I raked my fingers through my hair and smiled. It was wobbly for sure, but it was sincere.
“Where’d you learn to kiss like that?” I asked reverently.
Chet opened and closed his mouth. “Um…I don’t know. I—we’re going to ignore this, correct?”
“Well, we could, but we don’t have to,” I hedged.
“We should. We most certainly should.” He moved into the kitchen, swiping his hands on his jeans nervously and looking everywhere, but at me. “It won’t happen again. I promise.”
He headed into the living room and the dim foyer beyond before I had a chance to respond. I sighed and gave a small shrug, adjusting my junk as I followed him.
“Warm air is coming through,” I reported, pausing to check one of the vents. “But definitely have the landlord send someone over tomorrow.”
“Yes, absolutely. Better safe than sorry.” He fussed with his glasses nervously and reached for the chair next to the door, stopping in his tracks when an alarm beeped. “And son of a gun…it’s nine o’clock on Mars.”
“Ahh, good to know.”
Chet slid the chair in front of me to turn off his alarm just as I stepped around him. My timing couldn’t have been worse. His focus was on his watch, mine was on him, and that fucking chair was not supposed to be there. So guess who went flying? Yeah, that was me.
With one arm secured to my side, my only thought was that I didn’t want to jostle my shoulder. I overcorrected, leaning heavily to my right. The sudden shift in weight ultimately knocked me on my ass.
Chet was at my side in an instant. “Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I pulled myself up and sat on the second step from the bottom.
“Can I get you ice or a bandage?”
I shook my head. “For my ass? No, I’ll be all right. Thankfully, just my pride was injured. It’s my kind of karma to end up with a fucked-up shoulder and a bruised butt at the same time.”
“No, this was my fault. Unless of course you have terrible karma.” He fiddled with his glasses. “What kind of karma do you have?”
“You’re talking to a guy in a sling who tripped over a chair, so, not great,” I griped, aware that I sounded like a real douche. Or worse…a whiner. I waved dismissively. “Don’t mind me. Too much of my own company is getting to me.”
Chet sat beside me before I could stand, resting his forearms on his knees as he faced me. “It’s normal to feel blue when recuperating. My mom broke her leg and missed ski season when I was ten. She was devastated. It was our family tradition to spend part of the winter in Mammoth. We still went, but she had to stay behind while the rest of us skied. She isn’t a very outwardly emotional person. She’s a serious scientist and—”
“Runs in the family, eh?”
“Yes. My parents are physicists at Oxford University, but…that’s not what I was going to tell you. My mom is very stoic. She doesn’t cry easily and she never talks about feelings, but she was so sad that winter. I was afraid to ask her why. You know how it is for children. They sense disturbances and look for quick answers. And sometimes blame themselves for things well beyond their control.”
I cocked my head and smirked. “I thought you didn’t know anything about kids?”
“Well, I don’t, but I remember how I felt when I was a kid.” Chet paused, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth. I could almost imagine the adorable geek he’d been. “Anyway, I asked Dad if we should just go home.”
“And?” I prodded.
“Dad said I got it wrong. Mom didn’t care about skiing. She was sad she couldn’t be with us. Perhaps it’s the same for you. An untimely injury is keeping you from things and people who make you happy. And loneliness hits harder during the holidays.”
“Who said I was lonely? I’m not lonely. I’m just tired of being with myself. That’s not the same thing,” I argued.
“Close enough. One thing that helps me fight the blues is an immediate change of scenery,” he pronounced with a wide grin.
“Thanks, Doc, but Linc is coming home this week. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You don’t have to physically go anywhere. You can just switch up your routine and add—”
“Let me guess…holiday cheer?”
Chet beamed. “Yes.”
I had to give the guy credit…he was tenacious.
I couldn’t let him think he’d won too easily, though. I furrowed my brow, giving him my best cranky scowl, and huffed. “You really want to decorate my house?”
He frowned. “No. I want to reset your karma. And mine. You’ve done a good deed here tonight, and I owe you one in turn. I also owe my roommates for their kindness.”